


flexibility, love, and trust

by N_Is_For_Knowledge



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Here Comes A Thought- Steven Universe, Nightmares, Songfic, anniversary fic, oh fuck I missed the Stan twins birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 05:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19244671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N_Is_For_Knowledge/pseuds/N_Is_For_Knowledge
Summary: Stan and Ford celebrate their sixty-second birthday.But first, coping with trauma.





	flexibility, love, and trust

**Author's Note:**

> oh fuck I’m so sorry I forgot to post this

Stanford Pines prided himself on having an amazing internal calendar, but time passed differently among dimensions, so he had to agree when Stanley had bought a large ice-cream cake to celebrate their sixty-secondth birthday. Which was supposed to be today.

Stanford readied the not-frozen-anymore waffles (he was even worse of a cook than Stanley, who at least could make breakfast food) and slathered them in the frosting they had gotten from a small grocery shop in Brazil. Mabel had been the first to open his eyes to the wonders of frosting, although she had mixed the frosting on the We Survived, Hooray cake with Mabel Juice. Waffles with frosting. It was a birthday indeed. Much better than the ones in the portal, just celebrating whenever he  _ felt  _ it was his birthday, staring at the photograph in his pocket, simultaneously wishing he was home and hoping he’d never go back.

But birthdays weren’t days for self-introspection and angst, according to Stanley. They were for laughing and cake and birthday gifts sent through the mirror in the kitchen and singing Happy Birthday horribly off-key. You were supposed to enjoy them.

Stanley chose that moment to bolt up in bed, hitting his head on the ceiling, a look on his face that said something was wrong.

Stanford was at his side in an instant. “Stanley? Are you okay?”

“Nightmare.”

“What kind?”

Stanley didn’t speak. Upon closer inspection, he saw that he was crying.

“Hey, Stanley. Breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out.”

He breathed raggedly and calmed down, only slightly.

He used the best tactic he knew: a song he had been taught beyond the portal.

_ “Take a moment to think of just, flexibility, love and trust. Take a moment to think of just, flexibility, love and trust...” _

Stanley kept breathing.

“ _ Here comes a thought that might alarm you, something I did, and how it harmed you…” _

Stanley sung, in a hoarse whisper, “ _ Something I did that failed to be charming…” _

_ “Things that I said are suddenly swarming, and oh, you’re losing sight, you’re losing touch, all these little things seem to matter so much, that they confuse you…” _

Stanley leaned against him. “ _ That I might lose you…” _

_ “Take a moment, remind yourself, to take a moment and find yourself. Take a moment and ask yourself if this is how we fall apart…” _

Stanley said, insisting, “ _ But it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not…” _

_ “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. You’ve got nothing, got nothing, got nothing, got nothing, got nothing to fear. I’m here, I’m here, I’m here…” _

“Stanford? But… you hate me.”

“I don’t. I promise. Are you okay, Stanley?”

“I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Where’d you hear that song? Is there Animation Network in the multiverse?”

“I learned it from a three-eyed alien with the power to see into the future. She had very nice gauntlets. You’d like them. Where’d you learn it?” Stanford recognized his brother’s painfully obvious attempt to change the subject, but ignored it.

“This show… Sam Cosmos, I think. Mabel loves it. I heard her blasting We Are The Jewel Rocks at three in the morning a ridiculous amount of times.”

“You sing it a lot. It must be catchy.”

“It is, I guess.” Stanley turned the same color as his nose (a disturbing shade of salmon, with bits of green in it).

They laughed. “Happy birthday, knucklehead.”

“Happy birthday, nerd.”

  
  



End file.
